Councillor Richard Davies, Executive Member for Highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “As we expected there has been a lot of interest in both the Lincoln Eastern Bypass and East-West Link Road.

“Projects of this scale often involve public inquiries and we very much welcome the interest of the local community and I hope that their concerns can be properly addressed.

“I can’t pre-empt the recommendations or duration of an inquiry, but we expected that there would be one and have built extra time into the project schedule to allow for this.”

It’s unclear whether the public inquiries will delay the start of the works at this stage. Work on the Eastern Bypass is set to start in late 2014, while the East West Link Road is set to start in August 2014.

The plans for the Lincoln East West Link Road.

The East West Link Road will link the High Street at the junction with Tentercroft Street to Pelham Bridge and Canwick Road, allowing drivers to avoid the High Street level crossing.

The project will open up Tentercroft Street and the former coal yard for regeneration and will also enable the pedestrianisation of the High Street between Tentercroft Street and St Mary’s Street.

The Eastern Bypass is meant to provide the necessary infrastructure improvements that will support the city’s future growth and reduce traffic congestion in Lincoln.